Brock Online Notes

China has suspended its ban on Brazilian soybean exporters after accepting new, tougher sanitary standards, which should allow soy exporters to begin unloading cargo, according to Brazilian official participating in the government trade mission to China.

Germano Rigotto, the governor of the Brazilian State of Rio Grande do Sul, said through his spokesman in Porto Alegre, "From this moment, the 23 Brazilian businesses (exporters), which have had cargoes rejected, are free to resume exporting to China."

The Chinese began suspending Brazilian soybean shipments over two months ago after quarantine officials said they had found traces of fungicide in the cargoes. Chinese quarantine officials reportedly rejected five cargoes of Brazilian during that time.

Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry tightened its sanitary standards for soybean shipments on June 11, making them amongst the strictest in the world, in an attempt to reverse China's ban on about 90% of Brazilian soybean exporters.

A representative of Brazil's grain export sector, who had seen the accord that Brazilian and Chinese officials signed in Beijing on Monday, told Reuters News Service the Chinese were satisfied by Brazil's efforts to tighten sanitary regulations for its soy exports.

Under the accord, cargoes that left before June 11 would be inspected at Chinese ports according to the new sanitary norms, he said. If less than one fungicide-treated seed per kilogram on average was found, the ships should be able to unload, he told Reuters. Previously, China had said it would tolerate no traces of fungicide in Brazilian shipments.

But the representative added that the accord was no guarantee and whether Chinese quarantine officials would accept new shipments of Brazilian soybeans would only be known when new ships arrived.

Editors note: Richard Brock, The Corn and Soybean Digest's Marketing Editor, is president of Brock Associates, a farm market advisory firm, and publisher of The Brock Report.